And Then She Laughed
by Catnip Banana
Summary: Faay was a druid. A quiet one. She was never prone to rash action, or afraid of emotions overtaking her. Or, at least, she started out that way.  Set in Cata, actually written during WotLK.


_**This is a oneshot about my Druid Faay. I didn't know Auberdine was gonna get destroyed until the Shattering patch happened, and she was originally from Darkshore in RP, so I guess I got kind of...inspired. Anyway, here's what I believe she'd do if I was still playing her. Enjoy! :D**_

_**P.S. BAD PUN ALERT**_

_**Edit: Changed one of the things she found. Thanks to Mlaia3 for pointing out the flaw.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Activison/Blizzard, and therefore do not own World of Warcraft, King Varian, Deathwing, or any of his children. I do however own a Japanese panda eraser which is absolutely AH-DORABLE and a game of Bananagrams.**_

Faay was a Druid. A quiet one. She was always told that she was wise beyond her years, and she was. She was never prone to rash action, or afraid of emotions overtaking her. She always pulled back, analyzed the situation, calculated every possible outcome before doing anything.

Or at least she started out that way.

She grew up in Auberdine. Her mother was a baker named Etereth who liked reading Faay stories at bedtime. She had a husband, who left her, and then a wife. Faay, in her young state, was always puzzled by this. How could one just leave and then be replaced by the other?

Her second mother was named Andarel and she liked baking muffins with Faay. As confused as Faay was by her father's abrupt disappearance, she soon decided that she liked Andarel better anyway. She was a kind and loving person and she was always happy to talk to Faay and answer her questions. Faay was very curious, you see.

When Faay got older, she went out for a walk one day and didn't come back till the next morning. Nobody ever knew what happened to her during that one night, but when she got back home she had set her mind upon becoming a Druid.

Eventually, Faay got old enough that she was able to take care of herself. She fed and dressed herself, studied hard every morning, went out and tended the veggies in the garden patch for tonight's dinner, fished, and even did some little crafting in her extra time. She still wanted to be a Druid, so she decided to go to Ashenvale and study with the teachers there. (Because, you see, everyone who was ANYONE who was a Druid had studied in Ashenvale at one time or another. It was just THE place to be.)

So she spoke to her Mamas about it. She was clear, concise, and well-versed. But you see, she was only 150 years old at the time, so of course they said no. And so she waited.

And she waited.

And she waited.

And there came the time when Andarel turned to her beloved one night and said, "Love, she's ready."

And so with many tears of concern and goodbye-kisses and hugs and promises to write and well-wishing Faay was packed onto a boat and sent to Ashenvale, where an elder Druid had agreed to instruct her.

She did indeed study hard in Ashenvale. She practiced and meditated and read and wrote and did her very very best. (But of course, she still wrote to her Mamas, because they would be sad if she didn't.) And she grew even wiser and more knowledgeable. She learned to call down the fire from the Moon. She learned to change her shape to be more at one with Nature. She even learned to make thorns grow around the feet of one's adversaries to trap them in place and to show them how terrible your Wrath can really be.

And, of course, she learned of the Cenarion Circle and of Moonglade. And she decided she wanted to go there, to learn, to speak with the spirits, to visit the great shrine of Cenarius. And to become more at one with nature. (But of course, she still wrote to her Mamas, because they would be sad if she didn't.) And when she went, she was welcomed with open arms.

She truly did love it in Moonglade. It was so blissful, so calm, everything was in harmony. She enjoyed the Lunar festival whenever it came around, and she loved to walk among the underground dens. Sometimes, she wondered about joining the Druids in the Dream. But then something odd happened. The Dream was twisted into the Nightmare by some unknown force. Strange beasts started to flood some of the tunnels. For the first time, her peaceful home was threatened. She coped well, and helped where she could. Eventually they managed to beat back the invaders, and though all was not well within the Dream, she settled back into a pleasant balance with Nature. For a while, she thought everything would be alright. And for a while, it was. Until that day.

She had noticed the earthquakes long beforehand, but truly, they were only tremors. Some were concerned, but she reasoned that it was probably just normal seismic activity, and nothing to worry about. Her life remained untroubled. And then, one day, when she was meditating in the forest as usual, she felt another earthquake. Normally she would disregard it, but this one was different. It was much, much stronger. And then, her eyes snapped open.

Because something was terribly, terribly wrong.

It was as though...the world were being

torn apart.

Immediately, she rushed back to town and asked if anyone knew what had happened. She had an awful feeling in her gut and she refused to rest until she had answers. But sadly, no-one could give them.

Praying to Elune that she was wrong, she flew to Darnassus and tried to find news. Apparently, the black dragon Aspect, Deathwing, who had long remained imprisoned in the Elemental Plane, had somehow broken through to the surface, flown across Azeroth, and wrecked Stormwind, sunk part of Teldrassil, destroyed Auberdine...

Her mind stopped there.

No. It couldn't be. It couldn't. Her home...her childhood...her...

Her Mamas.

Completely numb for the first time in her life, she woodenly asked if there had been any survivors. They had said they didn't know, but if there were they would be at Lor'Danel. She had dashed away before they had been able to finish their sentence, sprinted to the nearest flight master, and DEMANDED to be flown there. And she was. And when she got there, she desperately searched, she begged Elune to bring them to her, she asked anyone, anything, the trees and the air and the seas and the sky, if they had heard anything about Andarel or Etereth.

But nobody answered. Because nobody could.

And so she went to see for herself. She swam down the coast herself. She passed the bodies, checking each and every one in a search for her Mamas. In some corner of her mind, she vaguely registered finding her first teacher, that strict old lady on the hill who loved apples, her childhood playmate, a pile of waterlogged kimchi.

But no Mama.

She kept swimming, even past the elementals, past the Twilight's Hammer, past the teacher and the old lady on the hill who loved apples and her playmate and the waterlogged kimchi.

And then she saw Auberdine.

And she dragged herself out of the water.

And she stared at the crushed and sunken buildings where she played and slept and sewed and baked and ate and spoke and read and learned and thought and laughed and loved and LIVED.

And she cried.

After that day she was never the same. She was angry, brash, rude, quick to take offence, hotheaded. She was always governed by her emotions. If someone bothered her, she would scream and snarl and curse until they fled from her rage. And in private, she still cried.

She devoted her whole life to becoming stronger and defeating the Twilight's Hammer. It became her goal, her single drive, to take from Deathwing what he had taken from her. First she trekked to Dustwallow Marsh with a group of adventurers to slay Onyxia, his daughter. It was a long, hard battle, which lasted through the night. She was stabbed with a pike through the shoulder, but she kept fighting. She was slashed in the side by a blinded ally's blade, but she kept fighting. She was almost burned alive by the flames from Onyxia's mouth, but she kept fighting. And in the end, she was rewarded with the immense CRASH of the dragon's body falling to the floor and the sound of the death rattle in its throat. And it was sweet, sweet music to her ears.

She pulled back a while, waited, let her scrapes and burns heal. Her mind screamed that it was a waste of precious time, but her body screamed back that she would die if she didn't. So she waited. And she licked her wounds. And as soon as she was healed, she continued on, training and studying harder than ever before. Her next target: Nefarian.

Honestly, he himself was easier to kill than his sister. It was still a long, hard battle, but the fight against Onyxia was longer and harder. And soon enough, Faay emerged from Blackrock to personally present the head of Nefarian to King Varian on a long silver pike. The taste of the wine at the feast he held in their honour was sweet, but the taste of triumph upon her tongue was sweeter still.

After that, her days had passed in a blur of fighting and studying and sleeping. She joined a guild of adventurers who regularly raided the encampments and strongholds of Deathwing's allies. They got on her nerves, but after the first few weeks went by they learned to leave her to herself. Additionally, they had a large and well-stocked library, which she didn't mind at all.

Weeks turned into months. Months turned into years. Faay learned to bend the forces of nature to her will, creating more powerful, more painful spells which could keep the target alive for as long as she wanted in a state of perpetual agony or kill as quickly and stealthily as a well-trained assassin with gold in his pocket. She turned to darker magicks, dabbling in fel here, experimenting with the arcane there. They made her spells stronger, faster, easier. They would be instrumental to Deathwing's defeat.

And at last, the time came.

She ventured into Deepholm with a great army of people, dragons, spirits, blessed by the Light and the Darkness and the very elements which had once rose against them. And they fought and fought against the great Aspect with tooth and claw and sword and hammer and staff and dagger and fire and water and air and the powers of Nature and the Titans and the Light and the Dark and the Ancestors behind them.

And in the end, they triumphed.

Words cannot describe the feelings of utter joy and exultation which rose through Faay as the great Aspect finally roared his last roar and clattered to the ground, his body dead before he landed. Images cannot describe the true bliss she found in knowing that at last, Deathwing, the murderer of her Mamas, the thief of her happiness, the mighty destroyer of half of the world, was finally, finally dead, never to return, never to kill again, never to steal peace, and never to leave the hell his soul had been condemned to. None but Faay would ever know what she had experienced that day. But, she reflected as she smiled to herself, it was truly the most wonderful and amazing thing which ever happened in her long life.

Now, as she stood beside the massive dragon's corpse, she closed her eyes and basked in the glow of his dying fire. And she basked in the glory of his death, and in the elation which it brought. And finally a strange sense of peace stole over her, for she had faced the one who had taken everything from her and she had taken it right back. She stood there for hours, days, perhaps. She didn't care. She couldn't tell. It was over now.

And then, as the last light faded from the dead Aspect's body, she laughed and laughed and laughed the wild laughter of victory.

_**Love it? Hate it? Tell me about it! Seriously, reviews are loved like virtual chocolate cupcakes. I never knew how much they meant until I started writing. Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed my story, and I hope I didn't mix styles there too much. :x**_


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